Host With Optical Shelf Needed

[Andrew124C41]

This is for a NUBM44. I want to put in cylindrical lenses.

 

[Unown (WILD)]

Ask lifetime

 

[Andrew124C41]

Ask lifetime

He is not able to at this time.

 

[RedCowboy]

You may want to find a machine shop near you, here's one I found with a quick search that looks promising.

-Canadian-Pharmacy-

www.aerostarmachine.com

Here's some specs on one of mine, also if you want to use the 3XBE with a 6X c-lens pair on a nubm44 you need to use a sanwu G2 but if you use a NDB7A75 you can use a DTR G2 and you get even better divergence from the 7A75 with only a watt or so less output, I have a 7A75 doing 6w with a 6x c-lens pair and it's quick to light my fireworks at 20 feet away.


Of course you want your module hole centered and my output was made to hold the 3XBE by it's outside dia. but I went with a threaded plate, Rich has a tap for the odd sanwu 3XBE threads otherwise you can press fit a sanwu adaptor.

 

[gazer101]

I wonder if a sufficiently over-engineered graphite-infused PETG heatsink made using a 3D printer could give say 15 seconds of duty cycle (for the NUBM44)

I'd imagine that it'd be possible with a good enough design and active cooling...
Guess I'll test it out once I get my hands on some, would be nice not having to shell out over a hundo bucks every time I want a custom host!

 

[RA_pierce]

The cylindrical lenses don't need to be mounted to metal, so if 3D printing is something you can do at home, why not print the optic mounts in a way that you can attach it to a laser module with sufficient heatsinking?

The tolerances might not be quite as precise as with machined aluminum but with some files and abrasive paper you can probably get a pretty good fit.

 

[Encap]

I wonder if a sufficiently over-engineered graphite-infused PETG heatsink made using a 3D printer could give say 15 seconds of duty cycle (for the NUBM44)

No real need to wonder much other than wondering if that was worth doing why is it not done. It would already have been done 1000X over in commercial or hobbyist laser pointers, if worth doing--the real world being the real world and not a figment of imagination.
Give it a try and see by all means but don't expect much. You would likely be much better off shoving an NUBM44 in a $10 laser 301 or 303 host--would run for 15 seconds no problem---does not have to be a $100 host? There are dozens of good host choices for much less than $100, however, the laser hobby is not friendly to young child level financial resources and assets nor end of life fixed assets and/or incomes. Some form of gainful employment part or full time in doing whatever of value to other people for $s usually is needed to support a hobby, in this case lasers.

Thermal conductivity of PETG with 40% graphite: 1.70 (ansiotropic) W/mK so...extremely inferior to all metals.
Comparison thermal conductivity: Brick 0.9 to 1.2 W/mK, Granite 3.5 W/mk, Marble 2.5 W/mk, Gravel Concrete 2 W/mK , Light Concrete 1.2 W/mK. Steel 50 W/mK , Brass 109 W/mK, Aluminum 205 W/mK, Copper 385 W/mK, Silver 406 W/mK

 

[gazer101]

I could even radially mount some off-the-shelf heatsinks to the central diode module and just use the PETG as some semi-heat-conducting mounts. Imagine a frankenstein laser but with everything nice and self-contained

I'd imagine a custom 500g laser host would cost less than $20 in materials and labour to produce in this manner (after the one-off work that is the design of the laser)

 

[Andrew124C41]

You may want to find a machine shop near you, here's one I found with a quick search that looks promising.

-Canadian-Pharmacy-

www.aerostarmachine.com

Here's some specs on one of mine, also if you want to use the 3XBE with a 6X c-lens pair on a nubm44 you need to use a sanwu G2 but if you use a NDB7A75 you can use a DTR G2 and you get even better divergence from the 7A75 with only a watt or so less output, I have a 7A75 doing 6w with a 6x c-lens pair and it's quick to light my fireworks at 20 feet away.


Of course you want your module hole centered and my output was made to hold the 3XBE by it's outside dia. but I went with a threaded plate, Rich has a tap for the odd sanwu 3XBE threads otherwise you can press fit a sanwu adaptor.
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Robert, thanks for all this detail.

How do you get 6 W from a 7875? What amp setting did you use? That is really impressive.

The one dimension you did not Include is the depth of the shelf. I mean you ha e to get the Cyl pair at the right height. I don't know how much vertical play you have in terms of getting the beam through the lenses.

It did occur to me that one could just put an optical shelf...and you did mention this, at the end of a maglite or other host

The problem with a machine shop is that they have no experience with these. It is nice to have someone who has done them before. How many optical shelves do you have?

What happened to Trinh? Is he no longer doing them?

 

[RedCowboy]

7A75 as in NDB7A75 ...... it's twice the strength of a 7875 and half again the divergence, that is your spot/bar width will be 150% of a 7875 but 200% +the wattage. Really 3w is about the max from a 7875 @ 2.4a but I have had 7A75's doing 6.5w @ 4A but 6W is typical @ 4A with a good copper heat sink/DTR module although I have had some that will only do 5w but those were earlier production I expect, right now I have a 7A75 with some runtime on it doing 5.8w through a 6X pair, that's 5.8w out of the c-lens and it's primary is a G2.

You only use a portion ( about the middle 1/3 depending on the lens ) of your c-lens height so you have play, but you do want to make sure your lenses won't stick up too high and hit your cover, so depending on which lenses you use you can adjust the height, if you go low on the shelf you can always add a shim as thick as you want.

As a rule of thumb I make the shelf just below the module hole so it can be put in from either end.

Yes

Many

I don't know what's up with Trinh but quick turnaround is not typical.

 

[bulukaki]

As I'm also in a similar situation, I think I'll try to contact CNC & milling services on alibaba. I first thought about looking for those services locally (Taiwan) but figured that labor costs would be cheaper in China.

 

[Andrew124C41]

7A75 as in NDB7A75 ...... it's twice the strength of a 7875 and half again the divergence, that is your spot/bar width will be 150% of a 7875 but 200% +the wattage. Really 3w is about the max from a 7875 @ 2.4a but I have had 7A75's doing 6.5w @ 4A but 6W is typical @ 4A with a good copper heat sink/DTR module although I have had some that will only do 5w but those were earlier production I expect, right now I have a 7A75 with some runtime on it doing 5.8w through a 6X pair, that's 5.8w out of the c-lens and it's primary is a G2.

You only use a portion ( about the middle 1/3 depending on the lens ) of your c-lens height so you have play, but you do want to make sure your lenses won't stick up too high and hit your cover, so depending on which lenses you use you can adjust the height, if you go low on the shelf you can always add a shim as thick as you want.

As a rule of thumb I make the shelf just below the module hole so it can be put in from either end.

Yes

Many

I don't know what's up with Trinh but quick turnaround is not typical.

How does the shelf attach to the host? I am going to see if I can use the shop you suggested or another one that I located awhile ago.

It occurred to me that Richard could make the host and use the machine shop for the optical shelf. Hold the shelf with set screws

 

[RedCowboy]

If attaching to a flashlight body I use an aluminum plug in place of the reflector and bolt through it.
I bought several 2 part sinks for these mx-900 flashlights so here I used the top half.
You could have a shop make you a slip over shelved sink to fit any host and use the setscrew method too.

 

[Andrew124C41]

Did you machine that? You also have a custom host as I recall. Does that use set screws?

 

[RedCowboy]

I have a bunch of them but I don't have a lathe or a milling machine but I do have a metal blade on my chop saw, a drill press and a slide vise, plenty of bit sets and end mills so I can fake most of it pretty well, I had the milled shelved sinks made but I have made my own by drilling and taping a shelf to a cylinder and I have also built square units, I can cut plate and bar stock to size and do it the cave man way turning to size with a sanding disc on my radial arm saw and chucking up my cylinder slices in a hand held......someday I will get a lathe and a manual mill.

Here's a square build I did but if you don't have some basic workshop tools you are not going to be able to do this at home, it will be better for you to get a host with a shelf made or a slip over with a shelf.




Here's a very simple box type slip over, you can see how much of the c-lenses are used by the beams imprint.




Here's how I attached a shelf to a cylinder, it's attached with screws through the back.



Here's another way screwed from the front.

 

[Andrew124C41]

You are good with this stuff. You need a lathe!